Great to meet you,
I’m Tom Vaughn
About The Journey
Hello and welcome to my journey. It took a while to get here but I did.
At the time, like everyone else in high school, I was making plans for what I was going to be. If you had asked me at that time if I’d ever become a business coach, I would have laughed and said I don’t think so. My goal was to become a teacher. I was completing the steps in my plan. I was the Future Teachers of America President, completing advanced and college prep courses with extremely high grades, and was accepted into a college. Next, go to college; it lasted a year. Just so you know, I did become a teacher. I will chat about how it all came about.
Seeds of Education
Leaving college left me in a dilemma. The military draft was active and at my age, it was only a matter of time. Rather than wait for the military to send a special request for me to appear at a certain place and time, I enlisted. My choice was the US Navy, not a lot of walking and less likely to be shot at. What was supposed to be a two-year stint turned into a ten-year tour.
A Decade in Uniform
Military and civilian life share many similarities, one of the most significant being the ability to make choices. In the military, they often painted a vision picture of what could be, guiding you to make decisions that aligned with theirs.
My first experience – You could be floating around on a destroyer or something similar performing tasks like swabbing decks or working in the mess hall. The alternative take these batteries of tests to determine where I might fit best.
Testing completed, they returned suggesting electronics would be the best fit. They highlighted the benefits like faster rank advancement, working indoors, doing mental labor versus manual labor, and greater prestige. There was also the potential of using my training toward college credits. There was a catch, I needed to extend my service for two more years. I said yes.
A little later, another group with another picture came to talk to a few of us. The picture – advancement in pay grade, special electronics course plus a choice of particular training fields. The lesson here, read the fine print and ask the right questions. It sounded promising, so I agreed once more. I volunteered to join the elite submarine force and after the class, pass a test for the pay grade advancement. They then painted the picture of submarine duty, something that automatically comes with the package I had said yes. You attend training, have one place to call home, flying to the home of your submarine, and float around underwater for about three months. I am not sure where they found that information, my experience was quite different.
I spent over a year of training on the East Coast followed by ten weeks on the Northeastern Coast for another ten weeks of more training. Then I flew to Spain, where I worked on submarine electronics for two years. Another tempting offer which I agreed to – a lump sum of money, more training, advancement in pay grade, and a chance to remain in Spain. I extended my service for another two years. A few months later, a set of orders arrived. Report to a submarine in Washington state. We spent over a year in dry dock. Followed sea trials to determine seaworthiness, We moved the boat to another location to qualify for handling and managing particular weapons, and finally outfitted with th actual weapons. That picture of submarine duty finally matched reality. The boat would be in Spain and home would be the New England states.
It was short-lived, not even a year, the boat and crew were transferred to Hawaii where we would operate. After a few years in Hawaii, it was time for the extra training and shore duty afterwards. New technology was my choice for training. The shore duty choice was to be an instructor teaching the new technology. This returned me to the east coast where my electronics training began. The catch I needed to add more time with the military and that is how it arrived at a decade in the military. I also completed my goal of being a teacher. It may take a while but you can complete your goals.
I learned that the journey to achieve was as good as reaching the goal. It takes consistency, training, persistence, and belief.
Corporate Exploration
As our area expanded, I took on more responsibilities, particularly in leadership. Increased communication with both our existing and new customers became essential. Time management, planning and scheduling, inventory of parts, replacing defective components, and updating our documentation all became more critical.
Over time, my team began handling many of my daily tasks, such as responding to problems, scheduling time for performing preventive maintenance, replacing defective parts, and updating documentation. I provided training by the techs calling me before they contacted tech support. Many times there were no calls to tech support. Our team’s reputation grew, and when they did call tech support, the most senior people were assigned to help.
I also communicated more with customers about their growth and how our telecommunication equipment could support their needs. This helped me learn a lot about how our gear was used and its importance across various industries. I gained insights into how our systems were integral to payroll processing, product documentation, order management, and much more.
Embracing New Challenges and Growth
Time passes and sometimes you feel like there’s nothing more to learn where you are, and it’s time to look elsewhere. I found a new job with one of the businesses we supported, and they wanted me at a different location. So, I headed to the East Coast. There, I took charge of an existing team, programming and planning the growth of telecommunication equipment. I brought with me an updated set of skills, including time management, planning, communication with team members and non-team members, creating tight-knit groups, people evaluation, negotiation, staying polite in challenging environments, listening to customers’ needs, and providing timely solutions.
I thought I had all the skills I needed, but I quickly learned there was more to master—like business strategies, budget management, and how to say “no” politely. My team’s reputation and skills grew, and we were often asked to perform Alpha and Beta tests on telecommunications software. We provided recommendations on whether to keep or discard the software and, if kept, how to seamlessly integrate it into our network. This work was usually conducted in labs.
Two years passed, and I was just getting settled into the area when the announcement came that the data center would be closing in a year. Not long after the announcement, I was approached about working on a company-wide project and asked if I would be willing to move. To set the stage, a few months prior to the announcement, I had purchased a new house. The timing was far from ideal, but because of the announcement, my answer had to be yes—I needed a job.
Unexpected Turns and New Beginnings
I began traveling to the new location to get acquainted, find a place to live, and learn more about the project. There was already a crew working on it, but after a while, it became clear that there were too many conflicting agendas. A few months of visiting passed, and I requested a permanent desk. The reply was, “Your expertise is not needed.” This response took me by surprise, causing a knee-jerk reaction. I returned to my hotel room, called my boss to inform him of the circumstances, and told him that I would be submitting my resignation and immediately seeking work elsewhere. My house was already on the market. I now had a lot of work to do and many calls to make.
My New Job Was Saved
My boss must have made a few calls because a few hours later I received a call. It was from the Vice President responsible for the company’s telecommunications worldwide. This was my first opportunity to speak with him. After greetings, he had one question. “Do you want to work for me”? I answered Yes. His reply was I will be down tomorrow, I will call you to come in and set the rules for the team.
The next day, he arrived and made a few changes. letting a few key people go with the explanation that their services were no longer needed. That afternoon he introduced me to the crew reporting directly to him, however the entire team is directly responsible for this project.
Tackling The Project
This is one of the largest and longest projects I have worked. Our task was to resolve the frequent network outages on the company’s telecommunications network, which supported over 500,000 connections. The bottom line was each outage causes significant losses – fix it.
Our investigation revealed that each data center had multiple versions at various software at various update levels. Nothing matched anywhere except at our testbed where we had copies of all the files from each data center. The solution was to, standardize the software across all centers. However, it did not resolve keeping the issues from reoccurring. The answer was to maintain a copy of software at two different locations with each backing up the other. The testbed would still be in existence to do the initial testing. Configurations for all telecommunication systems are to be kept in both locations with the respective data centers responsible for their own. Our estimated time was 18 months. We were given the go-ahead but told 18 months was too long, nine months was better.
Two other issues were discovered – it took six months to install, test, and distribute new software and it took six hours to apply an update. I resolved the update problem and cut the time down to less than 30 minutes. Another took care of the distribution by implementation automation, and another handled getting accurate analytics. I along with another member tackled the installation of new software using automation.
The results were impressive. By using automation, resolving mainframe permission issues, getting vendors’ support to resolve equipment configuration issues, and software format to meet our needs we reduced the installation and ready-for-use time to eleven days. However, it was documented it at 30 days to provide some breathing room. Additionally, we had another team member working on analytics, ensuring that the data was accurate.
Transitioning to New Software
Up to now, we have been dealing mainly with machines, testing our processes, and ensuring everything works smoothly. Now, it was time for each data center to convert to the new software locations. I knew many of the data center personnel, and those I didn’t know had heard of me. However, I wasn’t chosen to lead this part of the project. In this new era, another person was selected—someone the people didn’t know.
You know the rule: people trust those they know. I received many calls, and after some initial reluctance, the data center personnel came around. We had selected people ready to provide assistance if needed. There were a few hiccups along the way, but we managed. The team received accolades, but the person leading the show received most of the glory.
Project Completion
The project was a success, and network outages decreased considerably. Soon, we started hearing that the database and mainframe groups had previously tried to centralize their software and failed. Now, they were planning to retry, using some of the processes we established.
During all of this, I found time to return to school and complete my bachelor’s degree. At the time, I didn’t fully realize the significance of this step
Complany Split
As my career continued to evolve, the company split, and I joined the new one. My first task was to select the software for monitoring and managing the network. At that moment, all I could do was say thank you and walk away, shaking my head, wondering where I would learn enough to make a well-supported decision. After all, we would be monitoring a network of over 300 connections worldwide. What could go wrong? Bad question.
The software wasn’t the favorite of many, so we conducted a fair test. We put the software options side by side, connected them both to the device, and the one that discovered it first would win. It sounded simple, but 24 hours later, the software that many preferred had discovered nothing. I wanted something that worked, so the decision was made.
On the first night, the chosen software did its job, and we discovered a lot—more than we expected. Some organizations outside our company were not too happy. We took the software down, made adjustments, and started again. The results were much better and definitely less chaotic.
Concurrently, I pursued a Master of Science in Computer Information Systems, unknowingly preparing myself for the chapters ahead. After earning my Master of Science, I began the art of juggling the roles of an adjunct instructor and an industry professional. This paved the way for my future endeavors. As life’s twists presented choices of relocation or early retirement, I faced a crossroads.
At the time, I was part of an 18-person team providing Tier 3 technical support. Eventually, I was given the title of Technical Manager, overseeing this team. Despite the title, my goal was to be more of a coach and mentor rather than a traditional manager. While a manager typically structures tasks and workflows to achieve goals, a coach elevates team performance and empowers individuals to reach their full potential by providing guidance, support, and personalized feedback. This approach helps the team overcome obstacles and achieve their objectives more effectively. I listened to my team, assisted with decisions, held them accountable, and allowed them to work at their own pace, as long as tasks were completed in a timely manner.
During this time, I decided to join two colleagues in returning to college to obtain my master’s degree, a step I didn’t realize would be so important for my future. Concurrently, I pursued a Master of Science in Computer Information Systems, unknowingly preparing myself for the chapters ahead. After earning my degree, I began juggling the roles of an adjunct instructor and an industry professional. This experience paved the way for my future endeavors.
As life’s twists presented choices of relocation or early retirement, I found myself at a crossroads, ready to embrace whatever came next.
Educational Odyssey
Embracing a new chapter, I took on the role of a full-time adjunct instructor at various institutions, sharing my knowledge in Information Technology. As time went on, I became the Program Chair of Information Technologies, returning to my true passion—igniting the flame of knowledge within individuals.
For many, this educational journey became a turning point, allowing them to reshape their lives and gain newfound confidence. The journey came full circle as former students reached out to share their success stories, serving as a testament to their perseverance. A recent message from a student resonated deeply, reminding me of my own words to him: “We are going to get there.” Today, he carries this message to his children and team, embodying the lasting impact of mentorship.
Virtual Education Adventure
A New Adventure in Online Education
During this time, a new adventure beckoned as I embraced the world of online instruction, becoming an online educator working from the comfort of my own home. This chapter introduced unique challenges and required newfound discipline, all of which I embraced and overcame. It was during this phase that I discovered my affinity for the virtual realm, finding the freedom to teach from anywhere across the globe.
I was presented with an opportunity to become an adjunct instructor at a college, teaching courses in business and technology. I would not have been able to do this if I had not taken the steps of returning to school and earning my degrees.
While being an adjunct instructor, I met my future wife, who had started her own bookkeeping business. To help her, I took over answering calls, which turned out to be more challenging than I expected. Learning to interpret tones and understand the importance of comments over the phone was a new skill.
My adjunct life was short-lived. Another opportunity presented itself, and I was offered a job as the Program Chair over the Information Technology department. While there, I wrote curriculum that was used at other campuses as well as my own.
Enterprising Horizons
Embracing the Entrepreneurial Spirit
As my formal education chapter drew to a close, an insatiable hunger for more emerged. The call of entrepreneurship beckoned, leading me to delve into MLM organizations, direct sales, affiliate marketing, and accountability coaching. Throughout life’s lessons and the acquisition of tools, my career remained grounded in the principles of inspiration and mentorship.
In this ongoing chapter, I remain devoted to nurturing growth and empowerment. I guide those who seek knowledge, empower those who dare to dream, and assist individuals in reaching their loftiest aspirations. As I contribute to the betterment of others, I simultaneously continue my journey of growth. Through perpetual investment in my personal and professional development, I inspire others to enhance not only their own lives but also the lives of their loved ones.
Our business has grown and become streamlined. We schedule appointments a year in advance, have a confirmation/reminder system in place, and the business is now over 17 years old. Meanwhile, I left teaching and began helping others start their own businesses, mainly online. Many people struggle with the basics, like deciding if they need a website, growing an email list, or sending bulk emails like newsletters. I’ve helped many improve and grow their businesses, leading me to create my own business, Nuts & Bolts Business Coaching.
I love helping others achieve their business goals, just as I’ve been able to achieve mine. Dreams and goals are essential, and prioritizing them correctly is key to success.
Join me in embracing this shared journey towards personal and professional excellence. Together, we’ll navigate challenges, learn, and empower one another, creating a tapestry of transformation and growth.
